Film reviews by nationality

Monday, July 30, 2007

According to this article published in La Presse, former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau won the title of the worst Canadian ever in the Winnipeg-based magazine called The Beaver. Obviously this was the result of poll conducted by this History magazine. Moreover, this poll was conducted with a slight tinge of humour and also with a desire to motivate Canadians to seriously talk about History.

After all, don't you remember that PET was nominated (I don't see any reason to nominate such a jerk) in 2004 for CBC's award of the "greatest Canadian" (the title was won by Tommy Douglas)?

What also made me have a little smile is the fact that you can find scumbags in The Beaver's list such as Karla Homolka, Paul Bernado and Clifford Olson. In case you were holding doubts in your mind, Céline Dion is in the list!! Let's hope that comedian Jessica Holmes will make an imitation of Dion in the next show of Royal Canadian Air Farce.

Finally, while I leave you with a video made during the humorous show Royal Canadian Air Farce (that shows you how arrogant PET was) about Canada's most morronic Prime Minister and also "intellectual", here's a message to his son Justin: have a reality check and change your public image for pity's sake!!!!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

How do you make sure that your readers can rate each of your blog posts by giving them a rating from 0 to 5 stars?

In spite of your readership, don't expect to get too much comments. However, thanks to to the help of someone, I found a very interesting web page that allows people using Blogger to insert a 5-stars rating system that allows visitors to rate blog posts individually. While some people put the stars below the blog post's title, I prefer to put them at the end of each blog post.

Secondly, what was the last Vietnamese movie that you saw? Without a doubt, I guess that you actually saw films made by movie director Tran Anh Hung in the likes of The Scent of the Green Papaya (good script, but toooo boring). Guess what? A Vietnamese martial arts movie is about to come out in the West. It's a fictitious story about Vietnamese nationalists fighting against French colonialists and Vietnamese collaborators in 1922. Here's the preview if you want to see how the movie looks like.

Indeed, we can tell very easily that Dalton McGuinty, Ontario's Premier, didn't want to deal with this political scandal. Think about the upcoming provincial election of October 10! Even though Mike Colle took the fall in this scandal, those who are to blame are actually the Liberals themselves, especially Dalton McGuinty (photo).

Furthermore, Ontarian taxpayers' money was granted to some ethnic organizations or community centres that didn't apply for the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration's subsidies! On the other hand, some groups received far more money than they had requested.

Obviously, during the parliamentary works in committee, while the Progressive Conservatives (PC) and the NDP all claimed for an investigation led by Ontario's Auditor general, what was Dalton McGuinty's reaction? He used his parliamentary majority in order to stonewall the opposition's demands! In short, it's clear that the NDP and the PC saw that the Liberals had something to hide.

Secondly, McGuinty used the mainstream media to accuse his opponents of being "racists" who can't accept the fact that Ontario is receiving immigrants. How funny! Is worrying about the way taxpayers' money is being spent a racist thing? To put things back in their context, both opposition parties accused the lack of transparency in the process of giving out grants to ethnic organizations and community centres.

With that said, McGuinty's accusations towards both opposition parties almost remind me of Jean Charest, Quebec's Premier, accusing Mario Dumont of racism in the debate about religious accommodations. As far as we know, the NDP and the PC never claimed that immigration should be stopped. All in all, McGuinty's accusations of racism is a complete display of disdain towards Ontarians who voted for two supposedly racist parties.

In other words or in Dalton McGuinty's words, if you voted for the NDP or the PC, you're just a closeted admirer of French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen! Oooh, be scared! See the devil if you encounter an Ontarian who voted for either the NDP or the PC!

Now, how can McGuinty say that he speaks for all Ontarians, eh? Given his paucity of grey matters and his ability in demagoguery, let him figure out how to gain the trust of all Ontarians. However, this scandal might tell us that Quebecker and Ontarian Liberals are no different from those who are elected at the federal parliament: their reliance on the votes of ethnic minorities make them do condemnable things with taxpayers' money.

***

Finally, this show us that Canada's useless policy of multiculturalism must be abolished. Why on earth should a white person's taxes be used to finance ethnic organizations or community centres which are supposed to integrate newcomers and help them to keep their ethnic culture? Ethnic minorities don't have to be financially dependent of the state. Secondly, if they want to keep their ethnic culture, well, they should privately use the money coming from members of their ethnic community rather than from Joe Blow's taxes.

After all, what's the point to elaborate social policies if a portion of your population, based on its ethnicity, only have access to it? Well, I don't want to offend anybody out there, but it's about time that Canada treats its citizens with European republican values, which means treating everybody the same way without paying attention to ethnicity, religion and the colour of the skin.

I may be a proud Canadian, but unfortunately, I find most Canadians too stupid to understand what the hell is a republic. In fact, many of my compatriots believe that living in a republic will make us like the Americans. As far as know, there are three types of republics and the USA is far to be a model due to the complexity of its political institutions.

On another note, if you're a loyalist (i.e. someone who worships the English monarch), I'll respect your opinion, but you can be sure that you won't have my respect.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

In spite of the Turkish Prime Minister's Islamist past (or present) and his lack of clarity, he has striven more than his predecessors to bring Turkey closer to Europe.

Yesterday in Turkey, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, took 47% of votes and it gave it 341 seats in the 550-seats parliament of Ankara. Moreover, these results didn't meet the required quorum (two-thirds of the parliament's seats: 367 seats) that could have allowed the AKP to have its candidate Abdullah Gul elected by the parliament at the republic's presidency.

Despite his relatively comfortable victory, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's opponents still have doubts about him and by extension his capacity to integrate Turkey into the European Union (EU). These doubts are due to Erdoğan's past (or present) as being an Islamist. After all, here are some arguments that they could use to blast him:

While he attempted to satisfy his party's conservative grassroots in 2004, Erdogan wanted to revive the criminalization of adultery (which was abolished in 1996). Obviously, because of protests, he made his bill die on the order paper.

When he was mayor of Istanbul, Erdoğan made a law that restricts the use of alcohol in restaurants.

Despite most of its current members' ideological break-up with Turkey's Islamists in 2001, it's needless to say that the AKP was born out of the Milli Görüs.

Besides, last year, the French quarterly magazine Alternatives Internationales (issue of June 2006) published a very interesting article written by Rusen Cakir, a journalist of the Turkish newspaper Vatan, and translated by Clémence Scalbert.

In his piece, Cakir wrote that the AKP brought many reforms that were meant to please the EU (ex: open-mindedness to freedom of press, fight against torture, limitation of the Turkish army's power within political institutions, granting cultural rights to Kurds). However, despite saying that the application of these reforms is made slowly, Cakir wrote that the AKP's moves "constitute undeniable democratic advancements."

That being said, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did great things for Turkey, but his annoying pragmatism can fuel certain people's impatience. On another note, yesterday in the French newspaper Libération, a former Turkish diplomat averred that Erdoğan is "an [adept of the art of equilibrium] who knows how to simultaneously talk about democracy in Kurdish areas, religion in mosques, Kemalism in Ankara, Europe in Brussels and security in Washington."

As time goes by, Turkish and also Westerners need to know more about his stance on secularism. After all, you can't pretend that you represent the Turkish mainstream society if you want to confront Turkey's Kemalist heritage! Moreover, if Erdoğan is in a bind, he definitely has no plan B for both Turkey and his political party. Indeed, all the liberal-minded and centrist people who voted for the AKP might desert this party if Recep Tayyip Erdoğan does another religious blunder.

Monday, July 23, 2007

While I'm preparing the next political blog post (to some bloke from Nova Scotia who probably recognizes himself: I am not a political expert and neither are you, by the way), I'll just leave you with two interesting things. The first one is a sort of web gadget that tells you how your blog will be rated according to American movie standards.

By the way, I almost forgot to tell you that the language used on your blog is the only thing taken in consideration.

Secondly, the next thing is about the level of difficulty to understand your blog depending on how you write (vocabulary and grammar). Just click on this link that will lead you to a text analyzer using the Gunning fog index. This index ranges from 0 (extremely easy) to 20 (extremely hard). According to Wikipedia, "texts that are designed for a wide audience generally require a fog index of less than 12."

Conclusion: In general, I'm someone who is quite easy to read. However, I don't understand why my texts dealing respectively with the war in Iraq and the Canadian mission in the Afghan province of Kandahar got rated over 12. Anyway, here are some comparisons that we can make (thanks to Wikipedia) with other written stuff by using the Gunning fog index.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

1. When in Rome, do as the Romans do!Who thought that this sort of thing only happened in Germany, Great Britain and Canada? Well, click on the link that I provided just to see what it's about. That makes me wonder why some people just immigrate into a Western country in order to harm it. Therefore, here's the last words of this short comment: if you don't like your new country, just hop in a boat (or a plane) and get out!

2. Would some Quebecker politicians say it?For those who say that Quebec is just like France, you're not necessarily wrong. What do the first, which is a French-speaking Canadian province, and the latter have in common? Here's the answer: people living there don't work enough and see wealth as a taboo. Finally, the difference between them is that in France people are encouraged to think by themselves (maybe too much according to Nicolas Sarkozy), whereas in Quebec (well, I mean no offence), I've always had the odd feeling that the less you think, the better it is.

3. Will secularism stay alive in Turkey?Today is quite a special day for Westerners, mostly for Europeans. Turkish people are heading straight to the poll, but many people have expressed fear because the AKP, the current governing party, seems to hate secularism given its Islamist roots. Strange though it might sound, Turkey's outgoing Prime Minister has always displayed his desire to see his country entering the European Union, right? I'm not showing my support to any political party. However, if the "supremacy" of the rule of law and the Turkish Constitution must be recognized, secularism can't be removed because the article 4 clearly states that "the provision of Article 1 of the Constitution establishing the form of the state as a Republic, the provisions in Article 2 on the characteristics of the Republic, and the provision of Article 3 shall not be amended, nor shall their amendment be proposed." Oops, these are probably words and I forgot what the Turkish army stood up for...

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Of course, it was quite a moment to start things over again! Indeed, the first thing I posted was about the war in Lebanon and Canada's foreign policy. As I was developing this blog, most of you have always had the pleasure (or the displeasure) to see my opinion on various issues.

Whether it was about defending a flexible approach to federalism in Canada, being against excessive state intervention in the economy, advocating the European concept of a mixed health care system, laughing at the ridiculous concept of multiculturalism, being strongly against religious accommodations, talking about movies, learning new things or talking about History, my goal has always been that simple: offering an alternative to mainstream media when it comes to discussing about politics.

Again, I'm not pretending that I can do better than the mainstream media; it's just pitiable that some columnists are too afraid to say obvious things. This blog that started with barely ten readers or so (mostly close friends) gradually grew up and currently has a readership of at least 300 readers per week along with more than 20 RSS suscribers. Now, enough writing! I'll leave you with some videos.

Yours truly,

Anh Khoi Do

James Bond and Vesper Lynd taking the time to drink a Heineken!

A weird ping-pong match.

Watch this electrifying performance of France's current president Nicolas Sarkozy (in French)!!!

An admirable display of courage by Maryam Namazie.

Finally, this is a stand-up comic by Rachid Badouri at the 2005 Just for Laugh Festival (in French).

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Is it me or are white Western politicians too afraid to admit that there is a presence of ethnic nationalism in Western countries? Can France's president Nicolas Sarkozy remind some stupid French people that France was built on republican values that DO NOT take in consideration everybody's ethnic, religious and racial background?

The visit of Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper to some countries of South America clearly shows that he's not as stuck as some of us want to believe on American economical policies. He proved that the existence of Canada proves that there are other choices apart from American-style hardcore capitalism and Venezuelan radical socialism.

This should rather be a good lesson to Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela.

Just like most populists that we've seen in South America, Chavez just got elected because he seems so close to the population. Still, there's one thing that we need to remember about Chavez. His political discourse is empty, founded on demagoguery and it is as interesting as a grocery list.

No wonder why Chavez thinks he's such a wonderful genius with his "21rst century socialism"!

Unfortunately, his so-called "21rst century socialism" looks more like a 19th century socialism. First of all, old-school socialists stress on the importance for the state to take control of everything in the economy. Moreover, the idea of socialism is just an egalitarian utopia, because by averring that he's extremely close to low-class workers, Chavez rather encourages class warfare. In fact, you just have to think about his contempt for rich people.

Let's guess that being rich makes you a bad person!

Hopefully, Michelle Bachelet, the president of Chile, understands that there are some ways to combine socialism with theories of market economy. It's as simple as that: just consider the theoretical elements that are likely to please to everyone instead of dividing people because of their social background. What Harper should have said is that between two radical choices, Canada, Chile and some European countries represent international role models when it comes to dealing with the economy.

PS: Am I the only one who is surprised by the fact that Harper struck a free trade deal with Columbia? I guess not...

Souray will earn $6.5 million for the first two years of the contract, which include a bonus of $1.5 million per season, according to the Journal de Montréal's edition of yesterday. In addition to that, he'll earn $5.5 million in the third year and $4.5 million for the last two seasons spent with the Oilers.

During all the time, we could almost tell that the Montreal Canadiens, through its general manager Bob Gainey, didn't show any interest for Sheldon Souray. In fact, if the Habs was so interested to keep him, wouldn't it be logical if they've made an offer earlier? In fact, Gainey did a four years offer worth $22 million to Souray on July 1rst, which is quite late. The next thing we know is that Souray refuses it the other day.

Of course, Souray did participate to All-Star games. He has the hardest slap shot in the league. Besides, let's remember that during the last season, he scored 26 goals and made 64 points, which constitutes his personal record in the National Hockey League (NHL). These facts could have forced Bob Gainey to negotiate a deal with Souray, right?

Strange though it might sound, the Montreal Canadiens' general manager didn't seem to be impressed by these numbers, because they don't reflect what you really see on the ice.

No matter how impressive Sheldon Souray's offencive stats from the previous season are, Bob Gainey left him with the feeling that he no longer had his place in Montreal. All we can say is that Gainey hasn't shown any form of subtlety over the last few months since the end of the hockey season. That leads us to the central question: why did Gainey take so much time to make an offer to a player who was one of the Habs' best scorers?

It's as simple as that: Bob Gainey didn't consider Souray as one of the Montreal Canadiens' best defence men. That explains why he spent all the time negotiating with defence man Andrei Markov. Despite not being a big scorer like Souray, Markov is more competent than him in defence. During the last two seasons, Andrei Markov got a positive differential of +13 and +2.

That explains us why Souray often got deked and he has allowed many goals to be scored. That can be seen in his regression, defensively speaking. Three years ago, he finished his 63 games season with a differential of +4. The next year, it gets at -11. Last year, what was Souray's differential? It was - and you clearly read it! - at -28. All in all, Gainey has been negotiating with Andrei Markov, because if these negotiations fail, Gainey could turn to Souray, who was viewed as a sort of plan B.

Moreover, moving to Edmonton was probably the best decision for Sheldon Souray, because playing for the Edmonton Oilers has always been a childhood dream for him. After all, remember that he's born in Elk Point, Alberta. Obviously, this should help him to be closer to his wife who lives in California. As opposed to the Habs, which is a team from the NHL's Eastern conference, the Edmonton Oilers play more often against teams from the American West Coast.

***

On an another note, did you hear about a news saying that a judge from Toronto ruled Canada's pot possessions laws "unconstitutional"? Apparently, the Canadian government just contradicts itself through the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations (a policy implemented by Health Canada in 2001) when it comes to dealing with issues on possession of marijuana and this can be used as a defence arguments by those who extol the legalization of some drugs. Let's make it very clear: this kind of drug is not to be legalized! Let's assume that there are other alternatives to marijuana or pot, or anything like these.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

If most British Muslims decry Islamic terrorism, why, oh why, don't they speak up while everybody is listening? Unfortunately, debating about Islam is still a taboo and moderate Muslims are badly represented.

Still, while these barbarian acts were done in the name of Allah, it appears for most of us that most Muslims didn't want to publicly condemn them. Does this mean that most British Muslims support jihadists?

According to the Daily Telegraph, while the percentage of "British Muslims accepting suicide attacks on the West" is at 13%, the percentage of those "admiring organisations like al-Qaeda" is at 16%. Besides, 37% of "young British Muslims would accept to live under sharia law rather than British law."

If British Muslims were asked to publicly express their opinions, most of them are not likely to do it. If most British Muslims decry Islamic terrorism, why, oh why, don't they speak up while everybody is listening? Unfortunately, debating about Islam is still a taboo and moderate Muslims are badly represented.

Some will say that the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), whose former leader Iqbal Sacranie was knighted by Tony Blair in 2005, represents moderate Muslims. Let's remember that after the attempt to bomb the Glasgow Airport, the MCB's current leader Muhammed Abdul Bari surprisingly stated that "the police and and the security services deserve the fullest support and co-operation from each and every sector of our society, including all Muslims."

This is rather surprising. In the past, the MCB, which is funded by the British government, has normally been hesitant to tell Muslims to go to the police if they suspect some of their friends or acquaintances to be involved in Islamic terrorism! As for former Islamist Ed Husain, he's rather not convinced by the stances adopted by the MCB.

According to Husain, "none of the leading members of the MCB have condemned the hard-line anti-Western ideology of figures such as Syed Qutb, the Egyptian radical fundamentalist who developed, in the early Sixties, the theological justification for violence in the name of establishing an Islamic state." He also added that "no one from the MCB seems willing to make that move." Moreover, the MCB never condemned the Hamas' bombings against Israel.

Now, talk about an organization that is supposed to represent moderate Muslims! It's about time that the British government sees that trust can be misplaced.

If the MCB was a real political body for all sane Muslims, there's certainly no need to wonder why groups like British Muslims for Secular Democracy and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain were created! The British government can either pull the rug under the MCB (and also other useless political bodies) or just ridicule itself.

Friday, July 6, 2007

To reach the 15th place in the medal table of the Olympic Games of Beijing, the Canadian Olympic Committee's (COC) summer sports division deemed that the federal government must pour $58.8 million. However, during the previous summer Olympic Games of Athens in 2004, Canada got 12 medals.

Now, guess what? The COC's objective ranged from 18 to 20 medals! No surprise here. In the last federal budget, Finance minister Jim Flaherty decided that the COC's summer sports division won't get a penny!

Moreover, the COC's program called Own the podium 2010 will receive $22 million on a yearly basis. The Canadian government's refusal to financially back Canadian athletes' ambition up for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing probably means something: money won't help Canada to buy a place in the top 10 of the medal table in 2008.

After all, who cares a fig about our country's objective for the next summer Olympic Games? It's true that our athletes can win medals in diving, canoe and rowing. Hence, some money could have been granted to athletes who practice these sports. Indeed, Chris Rudge, the CEO of the COC, said that a governmental support of $10 million can help Canada to get at least 2 to 4 medals more in Beijing.

Nonetheless, almost nobody in Canada just doesn't give a business if our athletes win a medal next year in Beijing. Without being rude, let's not dither to say that there are no improvement to expect from Canada in summer sports. In fact, back in Athens, remember that some of our biggest hopes ended up being flashes in the pan just at the wrong place and at the wrong moment.

For instance, Perdita Félicien, the world champion in hurdling, hit a hurdle and it cost her a gold medal. Secondly, Lyne Bessette finished in 16th place in biking because Dutch biker Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel fell on her. Thirdly, wrestler Daniel Igali, who won a gold medal in Sydney, couldn't go further then the quarter finals. Besides, we can also talk about the bad performance of Canada's swimming team.

Sad though it might sound, helping our athletes for the 2010 winter Olympic Games in Vancouver represents a smarter investment. Last year, the COC's objective was fixed to 25 medals and our country finished the Turin Olympic Games with... 24 medals! The only source of nationwide dismay came from the men's hockey team. Best of all, this nation stood on the 3rd rank in the final medal count.

In general, Canada's performance at Olympic Winter Games has been improving if we start with the Nagano Olympic Games in 1998. While this country got 13 medals in 1998, it went on to win 17 ones in Salt Lake City in 2002. Afterwards, the nation won 24 medals in Turin in 2006. Now, talk about an improvement!

Granting $22 million to the COC's Own the podium 2010 on a yearly basis looks fine if we consider the fact that the next Olympic Winter Games will be held in none other than Vancouver, which is a Canadian city, mind you. Not only we'll welcome the world, but we also want to show to other nations that our home and native land is in a good position to become the world's superpower in winter sports. Remember that Canada finished close to the USA in the final medal count.

Besides, the program Own the podium 2010 is supposed to help Canada to finally keep getting gold medals in winter sports. In fact, whenever Olympic Games were held in Canada, our athletes never won any gold medals. It's clear and obvious that federal subsidies to the COC's Own the podium 2010 will help our athletes to make us proud of who we are, as Canadians, on our own soil by winning gold medals. There's no doubt that most of (if not all) the best winter sport athletes are born in Canada!

Finally, remember that during last year, it was said on CBC that winter is the greatest "reminder of what it means to be a Canadian."

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Ok, I really don't know what to write today, so I'll just make it quick. Today, Canada is going through its 140th birthday. Let's hope that better days await this country so that our children can have a better future. So, I'll leave you with some suggestions on books and movies (all made in Canada!) along with a quiz on Canadian History. Enjoy, because there are just a few simple questions!

And now, get ready for the quiz on Canadian History! Ready or not, here it comes! Just post your answers in your comment. Thank you.

1. Which one of these things DOES NOT belong to the Canadian culture?a) The Bluenose boatb) The Bloody Caesar (cocktail)c) Hockeyd) The Liberty Bell

2. True or false: Was the ideology of multiculturalism invented in Canada?

3. The province of Alberta was named after who?a) A Métis girl who got killed during the colonization of the province.b) The daughter of Alexander Rutherford, Alberta's first Premier ever.c) Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848-1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria

4. In the English version of the national anthem written by Robert Stanley Weir, the passage saying "the true North strong and free" historically refers to what?a) An old racist mentality from French and English Canadians expressed towards Americans, black people and Easterners from the 19th century to the 1960s.b) A geographical worship of Canada's landscapes.c) The tough winter period in Canada.

5. The picture of the duck on the loonie is taken from a painting made by who?a) Robert-Ralph Carmichaelb) Alex Colvillec) Emily Carrd) Jean Paul Lemieux

6. What is the title of Newfoundland's anthem?a) Ode to Newfoundland!b) Long live Newfoundland!c) O Newfoundland!